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Author Topic: Baby Monster Slayer  (Read 1434 times)

DoubleG

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Baby Monster Slayer
« on: May 27, 2021, 08:25:45 am »

Hi all. Still besieged below my fortress, with almost a score of monster slayers in my fortress, including one dwarven one. One of the human ones just had a baby. Dwarves don't like it. Baby without a beard is just strange for them.

Gameplay question. should I just kick her out? She's fated to die in the caverns, with her baby in her arms. I should probably send her away for her own good, and the good of her baby.

Another gameplay question. Is there any way to force all the monster onto the surface at the same time, to have a go at killing the siege? They ignore burrows, but they love hanging out in your dining room. If I built a dining room upstairs, made sure it was not in a burrow for my dwarves, I might be able to trap all/most the slayers up NEAR the surface. Any ideas/improvements welcome.
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2021, 11:21:26 am »

Babies born in the fortress by visitors tend to die eventually by crawling to where they'll die (into the cistern, onto rails, etc.), and mothers seem to leave their babies behind. Those babies are not members of the fortress, however, and aren't taken care of by their parents.

I find monster slayers to be worse than worthless, as they tend to lure dorfs to their deaths by getting them to try to clean up the mess in the caverns eventually created by the monster slayers (and finally the pieces of them). If you expel them, however, they ought to take their babies with them. I don't know if the babies are considered fortress members or fortress residents, however.

Residents are usually not really possible to control, so I don't think you can get them to fight any invaders, although they might if you somehow managed to get the invaders to get down into the caverns. You should, however, be able to get them to move to meeting areas outside of the civilian alert burrows, as you indicated.
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Mobbstar

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2021, 03:55:08 pm »

You can lure monster hunters by making a disabled location zone (e.g. a temple). Defiant as they are, monster slayers will use the location eventhough it's disabled, while your obedient citizien will not seek it out. I have used this once in combination with linked gates to politely guide two such heroes into the caverns to deal with a forgotten beast. Unfortunately they really enjoyed praying and lured the forgotten beast into the airlock, like a xenomorph.

DoubleG

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2021, 03:23:43 pm »

The little baby turned one today. Hopped off his mum and ran around picking up full sized human clothes to wear. Now he's playing make believe. :)

As to the MS, I expelled a few, to see if they left at the same time, but they seemed to saunter out slowly, so i doubt mass expulsions will work. Seems Monster Hunters may be truly useless. Apart from the occasional story. :)

PS On the subject of monster slayers. Why is one of my MS beating up a forgotten beast with a selection of books? :P
« Last Edit: May 28, 2021, 03:28:56 pm by DoubleG »
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DwarfStar

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2021, 03:46:07 pm »

I noticed a military dwarf become attached to a parchment scroll recently. Guess I need to review my uniform situation...
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2021, 03:06:53 am »

Warning! The department of silly answers is in session:

:
PS On the subject of monster slayers. Why is one of my MS beating up a forgotten beast with a selection of books? :P
Why not?
Monster slayers are suicidal characters who often turn up without suitable armor, weapons, or training, so why should they have any sense when it comes to the weapon used?

(A more serious answer is that it may be another effect of whatever is causing visiting scholars to steal books when they leave, i.e. the monster slayer read a book and then decided to finally saunter down to the caverns, still holding the book rather than returning it to the bookshelf, and the bugger might not even own an actual weapon).

I noticed a military dwarf become attached to a parchment scroll recently. Guess I need to review my uniform situation...
I think you really should review the size at which your scrolls are made in, as well as the adhesive used in their creation...
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Thisfox

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2021, 08:03:38 pm »

The modern fighting librarian!
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Valkyrie

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2021, 07:33:38 pm »

I've had a few monster slayers *arrive* wielding books.  The one currently in the fort is a human wielding four books (two per hand), and actually has a few kills - one offsite named alligator, but also local kills of a reacher and three crundles, and the books have lots of cave crocodile blood on them too.  They're a Maceman / Hammerman (V Rusty now, naturally), but the blue membership text mentions he's a "legendary preserver of the knowledge of The Hoary Fellowship" (also a legendary treasure hunter for them).  I wonder if that role might be why he's hauling books around (and then simply wielding what he happens to have)?
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Stormfeather

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2021, 02:03:01 pm »

Maybe they all heard the pen is mightier than the sword and decided to take it one better?
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Baby Monster Slayer
« Reply #9 on: June 02, 2021, 03:14:47 am »

Maybe they all heard the pen is mightier than the sword and decided to take it one better?
If so, why don't get both: Using books about swords?
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